


Reap What You Sow

by afteriwake



Series: The Summer Of 100 Surprise Stories - Summer 2018 [18]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dead Molly Hooper, Developing Relationship, Developing Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, F/M, Inspired by Bleach, Kind Molly Hooper, Molly Gives Sherlock A Name, Names, Self-Sacrifice, Sherlock Holmes Has Feelings, Sherlock is a Grim Reaper, The Long Way Around, Travel, World Travel, for better or worse, hand holding, staying together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-20 19:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14900747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: He takes the long way around, and she takes his heart.





	Reap What You Sow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [daisherz365](https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisherz365/gifts).



> So my fellow Bleach fan **daisherz365** had claimed a prompt from me ages ago (" _Holding hands_ ") and I decided to combine it with a different prompt (" _you’re a reaper escorting me to the afterlife and the road there is surprisingly long au_ ") and thus this fic was born.

This was the part of the job he hated the most. There were times he got someone who was...pleasant. Kind. Considerate. Didn’t deserve to be taken as soon as they were. And yet there he was, waiting to escort them to their place of judgment, to have their lives weighed out and their ultimate fate determined.

Say what one would about the afterlife, it was a fairly bureaucratic process.

And yet...yet every once in a while, there would be a reason to take the long road, the long way around.

And Molly Hooper was one of those reasons.

She had saved a young girl from getting run over and it had cost her her life in the process. And she hadn’t cared she was dead; all she cared about was the girl was alive and unharmed. She’d stayed at the scene of her death far longer than others like her had, just to make sure.

Her heart was so big, even in death, that it had warmed what little heart he had that remained.

He had gently grasped her hand to lead her away, knowing this would be a journey where he would take the long way because she was kind. She was lovely. And his heart, though cold and small, resonated with hers.

Perhaps, some of its warmth would linger when she was gone.

**–**

“You haven’t given me a name to call you by.”

He was jolted by his thoughts that they were still holding hands when she spoke. “I am nameless,” he said.

“Hmm. We should fix that,” she said. “You do a good service, and I think you should have a name.”

“We aren’t encouraged to be individuals,” he said, the faint etchings of a smile on his face.

“Oh, bugger that,” she said. “Let’s see...you have the same piercing eyes at that actor, Brett. Jeremy Brett. And he’s most known for Sherlock so...I’ll call you Sherlock.”

“I’m not as smart as the famed detective,” he said.

“You seem a fair bit smarter than most living men I ever met,” she said, bumping into him with her shoulder. “So, Sherlock, I’ve rambled on and on. Tell me about you.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

She nodded, looking up at him with warm brown eyes holding a sincere gaze. “Very.”

And so he did.

**–**

Eventually, the journey would end. As she was dead and he was a Reaper there was no need to rest on this journey. But they walked the Earth, letting her experience all the things she had not been able to see and do while she was alive.

But, eventually, the journey would end.

He did not want it to end. He had, surprisingly, developed feelings towards this tiny former human. Friendship, yes, certainly. Admiration and joy and...love.

He loved her.

And he would have to lose her in the end.

He did not want to lose her.

But what was there to do?

**–**

As all journey do, soon they reached the end. But she did not let go of his hand, even when he could no longer accompany her. Her grip was warm, a radiance outward of the warmth that resided in her.

“I don’t want to go,” she said simply. “So I won’t.”

“What?”

“We’ll keep walking,” she said. “What can they do? Take our lives? I’m already dead, and you were never living. I’d rather spend a minute with you than an eternity away from you.”

He took her in his arms then and felt warmth radiate from his palm where their hands were pressed, going through his arm and his entire body. He would not leave her, he knew that now. Whatever eternity had in store for them, they would face it together. Molly and Sherlock, together for all time.

As it should be.


End file.
